BANGKOK, April 10, 2017 – The PATA Adventure Travel Conference and Mart 2017 (ATCM 2017) in conjunction with the Luoyang Adventure Tourism and Equipment Expo ended on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 in Luoyang, Henan province, China with over 500 delegates from 36 countries in attendance for the three-day niche event.

The event, which brought together pioneers, thought leaders and change-drivers that are shaping the emerging landscape of the adventure travel industry, was organised by the Pacific Asia Travel Association(PATA) in conjunction with the Henan Provincial Tourism Administration and Luoyang Municipal People’s Government and was executed by the Luoyang Municipal Tourism Committee and Beijing Sunny International Communications Ltd.

PATA CEO Dr. Mario Hardy said, “The event provided the perfect opportunity for delegates to build their businesses, to network and to gain valuable insights about the fast-expanding adventure travel sector. The one-day Mart was conducted in a vibrant and positive atmosphere with very encouraging results. Our one-day conference was informative, educational and enlightening and I was delighted that we were able to attract so many knowledgeable guest speakers to address the delegates.”

On Monday April 3, delegates heard from a diverse line-up of international speakers at the one-day conference under the theme ‘Create, Connect, Conserve’. The 22 speakers from nine countries explored the nuances, trends and dynamics of the adventure travel industry under various conference topics that covered ‘One Belt, One Road – the Ultimate Connector’, ‘Connecting destinations to information: the Adventure Travel Development Index’, ‘Create, Connect, Conserve: The case study of Luoyang’, ‘Creating new boundaries of adventure tourism experiences’, and ‘Equipping a destination’.

The speakers represented such authoritative bodies as the Academy of Longmen Grottoes of Luoyang; the Center for Tourism Research of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; the China Association for The Promotion of Development Financing, China Great Wall Protection; China National Tourism Administration; Decathlon; Evergreen Escapes; Go-Myanmar.com, SAVE Travel Alliance; Secret Compass; Solimar International; Towson University; UNESCO; UpThink; World Tourism Cities Federation, and the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

Dr. Mario Hardy concluded, “The delegates departed China with a much greater appreciation about the city of Luoyang and the many tourism treasures, including the Longmen Grottoes and Shaolin Temple, located in Henan province. This cradle of Chinese civilisation is now firmly on the map as an exciting destination for adventure travel enthusiasts.”

Founded in 1951, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is a not-for-profit association that is internationally acclaimed for acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its member organisations, comprising 98 government, state and city tourism bodies, 21 international airlines, airports and cruise lines, 68 educational institutions, and hundreds of travel industry companies in Asia Pacific and beyond. Thousands of travel professionals belong to the 40 local PATA chapters worldwide. The chapters organise travel industry training and business development events. Their grassroots activism underpins PATA’s membership of the Global Travel Association Coalition (GTAC), which includes ACI, CLIA, IATA, ICAO, WEF, UNWTO and the WTTC. The PATAmPOWER platform delivers unrivalled data, forecasts and insights from the PATA Strategic Intelligence Centre to members’ desktops and mobile devices anywhere in the world. PATA’s Head Office has been in Bangkok since 1998. The Association also has official offices or representation in Beijing, Sydney and London.